Blogging A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

This blog entry will be considerably different than others you may find here. I am going to challenge myself to read as much of A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn over the next two weeks as possible. I am guessing that I will not make it through the entire tome in that time, or if I do it will not be a detailed reading (especially if I keep blogging it!). In either case, it became apparent to me in just the opening pages that it will be an interesting read.

Join me in the read if you please. I welcome your comments, corrections, and other feedback. It is my goal to discern Zinn's goal in this book. All histories have a purpose. From Egyptian pharaoh's to Biblical chroniclers to Zinn, anyone who recites a history does so with a goal in mind. A certain narrative is to be served by the telling of certain facts and not others, or by the order of events presented (or omitted). What is Zinn's goal? We shall see.

The comments will appear in chronological order with the newest appearing at the bottom. It was just too confusing to put the newest notes at the top. I will try to keep the comments organized by chapter.

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Ch.1 Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress


This thought had occurred to me a few weeks ago, before beginning this book: what was the last major advancement in technology or economy that did not benefit from exploitation or human rights abuses? Will we ever expand or profit without exploitation? I always return to that kicky little ditty "Kiss Me Son of God" by They Might Be Giants.

I built a little empire out of some crazy garbage
Called the blood of the exploited working class
But they've overcome their shyness
Now they're calling me Your Highness
And a world screams, "Kiss me, Son of God"


I destroyed a bond of friendship and respect
Between the only people left who'd even look me in the eye
Now I laugh and make a fortune
Off the same ones that I tortured
And a world screams, "Kiss me, Son of God"




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Referring to the natives that he encountered on his arrival in the Bahama Islands, Columbus wrote, "They would make fine servants...With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want." And with that the door was opened to the New World.
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Columbus really was incredibly lucky. He set out for Asia--spice routes and what-not. With his supplies, ships, and crew he never would have made it that far. He vastly underestimated the distance. It was really lucky for him (not the natives) that he came upon the Caribbean islands just a quarter of the way to Asia.
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In less than three generations, the Spanish had essentially depopulated Haiti of its native Arawak inhabitants. This genocide was economically motivated, royally funded, and religiously justified.
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This quote from Las Casas' History of the Indies regarding the nature of an oppressive occupying force still has relevance today:
"...our work was to exasperate, ravage, kill, mangle and destroy; small wonder, then, if they tried to kill one of us now and then...The admiral, it is true, was blind as those who came after him, and he was so anxious to please the King that he committed irreparable crimes against the Indians..."
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By page 14 Zinn steps into the narrative to criticize the lack of bloodshed in the school textbook version of Columbus. He goes on to acknowledge that all historians have an ideological interest. Good. Will he identify his own for us and save us the trouble of trying to divine it? It seems he is asking the historian to lay bare atrocities so that we may learn from them and not repeat them. As I ask in the opening to this blog post, has any progress been made without exploitation? If not, then exploitation and atrocities must be told as part of all histories. Zinn asks for balance in telling history from the perspective of the lower classes or working classes and not just from the perspective of the state (contra Kissinger, A World Restored). This narrative interruption by Zinn is precisely what I was looking for, a description of the author's approach to history. Zinn's history is essentially a view of the world from the people being acted upon, not the drivers but the driven, not the masters but the slaves, not the patrons but the clients, not the invaders but the invaded.
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Chapter Two: Drawing the Color Line
Zinn asks how racism in America started and how may it end.
* "The Virginians needed labor, to grow corn for subsistence, to grow tobacco for export." (32)
* Because they were outnumbered, the colonists could not force the Indians to work for them. (32)
* Black slaves were the answer. (33)
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It is incredible to realize anew that millions of human beings were stolen from their homes are sold into forced labor. Because the Indians were on their own land, they had something of an advantage in addition to their numbers. They had the advantage of the home field. Once captured, subjugated, and transported, black slaves lost this advantage. They were made helpless. Brutal force and physical violence were the tools for transforming this population into a subjugated mass. Nothing indirect in this type of domination. At other times and in other places such domination must by hidden behind less obviously noxious methods of domination such as commerce, politics, and religion.
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In seventeenth-century America, all the conditions for black and white were characterized by subordination and money incentive. (my paraphrase)
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Suburbs Get New Congressional Districts - And One Familiar Candidate

It looks like the the Congressional districts in the Chicagoland area are going to make slightly more sense than they used to, presuming the current proposal passes as presently defined. Previously the districts were very bizarre, with strange tangential isthmuses springing out from central districts. Now they roughly divide the suburbs into large contiguous blocks. There are a few notable exceptions, particularly regarding districts 14 and 11. First, why split Oswego down the middle? The Boulder Hill subdivision is in district 11 and the downtown is in district 14. Further, the far south and northern areas of district 14 could have been excised to districts 11 and 10 respectively. As it stands under the current bill, Antioch and Sandwich are in the same district. Sandwich and Yorkville have much more in common with Oswego and Shorewood than with Antioch and Gurnee. Nonetheless, it seems like a step in the right direction.

I'm happy to see that Bill Foster is tossing his hat in the ring for district 11. We need more scientists in Congress.

Here's the article from Patch.com:

Suburbs Get New Congressional Districts - And One Familiar Candidate: "

Gov. Pat Quinn is expected to sign off on new congressional district maps that will dramatically reshape the western suburbs. And one of the new districts already has its first candidate, one whose name is familiar to local voters.

Democrat Bill Foster, former U.S. Congressman in the 14th District, announced Tuesday that he will run in the newly-configured 11th District, which includes much of Montgomery, Aurora, Naperville, Woodridge, Bolingbrook and Joliet.

Foster, 55, lives in Batavia, which would remain in the 14th District under the new maps. But Congressional candidates don’t need to live in the district they would represent. Foster served two terms as congressman for the 14th, winning both a special and general election in 2008 to succeed Dennis Hastert.

Foster was the first Democrat to represent the 14th since Watergate.

But last year, he lost a close election to Randy Hultgren, the Winfield Republican who currently represents the 14th. In a phone conversation on Tuesday, Foster attributed the election results to “frustration with the slow recovery of the economy,” but said he now sees “buyer’s remorse” among voters.

And the newly-drawn maps may give him an opportunity to jump back in the game.

The Congressional district maps, approved by the Illinois House on Monday and the Illinois Senate on Tuesday, recast the 14th District as a massive swath of land that includes Geneva, Batavia, St. Charles, Oswego and Plainfield, among others, and stretches to the northern border of the state. Hultgren now shares residency in this district with fellow Republican Congressman Joe Walsh, who represents the 8th District.

The new 11th District, on the other hand, has no incumbent currently living within its bounds—it is represented by Adam Kinzinger—and includes many of the areas previously grouped into the 14th, including Aurora, where Foster enjoyed strong support.

Foster said he is happy with the way the lines were drawn, mentioning that the 11th also includes the twin technology jewels of the suburbs: the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, where Foster worked for more than 20 years, and Argonne National Laboratory in Darien.

Republicans, however, have blasted the new maps, which were drawn by Democrats without GOP involvement. Redistricting occurs every 10 years, coinciding with the U.S. Census, and the idea is to even out representation among cities, villages and ethnic groups.

But with Democrats in charge of the state House and Senate, Republicans were not needed to pass the new boundaries.

Republicans have accused Democrats of drawing the maps to benefit their own party, and to erase the results of the 2010 election. The Congressional map passed both houses of the legislature essentially along party lines: 63-54 in the House, and 34-25 in the Senate.

The National Republican Congressional Committee also took aim at Foster in a written statement released Tuesday morning.

“Illinois working families fired Bill Foster last fall because of his unwavering support for reckless spending, higher taxes and bigger government,” wrote NRCC Spokesman Andrea Bozek. “Illinois voters understand that Bill Foster’s tax and spend record was part of the problem and are unwilling to foot the bill again for his big spending agenda.”

Foster is the first candidate to announce in the new 11th District. In fact, he didn’t even wait until the new district maps were approved to throw his hat into the ring.

“I think it’s good to start the campaign as fast as possible,” he said. “I look forward to introducing myself (to voters), and meeting with old friends in Aurora, Oswego and Montgomery areas.”

See the new Congressional district maps here.
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